Does ghosts reside on peepal trees...?
Our ancestors were brilliant people. They strategised new ways of keeping people off harm when the usual scientific reasons were not understood by the simple folk.
One of the ideas was to use the awe/fear of supernatural to keep then in check.
The simple folk had this habit of sometimes sleeping under the huge trees like the Banyan during the night. This is quite dangerous since the tree exhales huge amounts of carbon dioxide during the night. Sometimes this could lead to death too.
Hence these ghost stories to keep them away from these trees.
According to what the Brahmins preached, Peepal was the home of many celestial beings. Krishna was the preserver of life and the world, therefore, to keep a check on every creature, he resided in every creature, including the plants and animals.
On the other hand, the residence of ghosts in the Peepal emerged out of superstition, aided by Brahmin "research".
After a number of towns were formed and kingdoms built, people often rested under large trees like the Peepal tree, when they were exiled/evicted.
Peepal tree released a large amount of carbon dioxide which cushioned the access of oxygen to the area near the tree.
When people rested near it for too long, they ran out of oxygen and died.
This started a rumor that there were evil spirits near the Peepal trees.
The Brahmins became curious and studied the trees. They came to a conclusion that the tree released toxic air near itself, which (over a period of time) killed men that rested near it.
So, to keep people away from the trees, Brahmins aided the original rumor, adding that Yakshas and Ghosts rested and resided within the Peepal, which was a natural home for celestial beings like Lord Vishnu.
Though Krishna is named as god he is another human being or in human form..
Though we say ghosts holding onto to tree. There are no ghosts.
Hope you all enjoyed the post....
I had another thought, is there actual records of people dying from resting under this tree? Carbon Monoxide is poisonous, carbon dioxide is not toxic. Here in the U.S. People buy carbon dioxide producing machines to help their indoor crops grow. Maybe the peepal tree has other toxins?
I tend to think that the medicine people, or the local doctors in histories cultures had psychic impressions of what to use of what plants. I suspect that the subconscious mind of the ancient healer might have a vision of a supposed evil spirit giving them the intuition not to use certain plants. For example not rest under the peepal tree. Before a time of words like carbon to some cultures.